Chemicals & The Economy

BASF have now reduced their 2008 GDP forecast from 2.8% to 2.4%. This may sound a small amount, but it means it is now in line with the Global Downturn Scenario set out in our Feedstocks for Profit Study. Previously, it had been just below our Base Case Scenario. CEO Jurgen Hambrecht still sounds confident, commenting that the world 'will still continue to grow respectably, even if not as fast as in the last two or three years'. But he cautions that BASF now think the 'wave-like effects of the subprime crisis' will last 'at least until H1 2009.